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About Mysticism and the New Physics

Nowhere is the “paradigm shift”—the radical change of perspective that is sweeping the Western world—advancing so rapidly as in physics. Mystics and “idealists” have always propounded the idea that the world is an illusion. Now quantum physics is putting forward theories that reinforce this belief.

Until recently, the empirical approach of physicists such as Newton has taught us that the world exists with or without human consciousness to observe it. But we can never be totally objective about reality. The human mind, with all its preconceived notions and prejudices, always intrudes, even in the most scientific of experiments, making true objectivity impossible to achieve.

The new physicists state that reality is a combination of the laws of the physical world, quantifiable and unequivocal, and the subjective viewpoint of the observer. This “omnijective view” of the universe challenges all our most deeply held scientific beliefs and could radically change the way we view reality in the future. As our constructs are amended to this shift in approach, we can anticipate monumental changes in Western thought.

About Michael Talbot

Michael Talbot was an author and prominent figure in the quantum mysticism movement. Originally a science-fiction author and writer for the Village Voice, he rose to prominence with his nonfiction works, including Mysticism and the New Physics, Beyond the Quantum, and The Holographic… More about Michael Talbot

Chapter Three: SuperspaceFire walkersThe world of the very smallWaves and particlesThe limits of our languageQuantaThe curvature of spacePhysics is geometryThe quantum foamGeometrodynamicsMiniblackholes and miniwhiteholesWormholes in the fabric of space-timeParticles as undulations in the nothingnessThe quantum interconnectedness of the universeThe space-time codeThe chromosomes of matterExistences or essences?The superhologram of reality

Chapter Four: Beyond the Light ConeBeyond space-timeFrames of referenceThe active future and the passive pastImpossible world linesThe light coneElsewhereTachyons and faster-than-light particlesNo future, no past, no timePositrons seen as electrons scattered backwards through timeThe time ordering of events

Chapter Five: The Shape of TimeAn encounter with the EuphratesRetrocausalityThe shape of timeBackwards movies of the futureTime symmetry and butterflies embedded in glassAn indefinite number of pastsThe interpenetrating universesMemories of the futureThe prophecies of QuetzalcoatlExtraterrestrial anthropologyHyperspace and hypertimeA new look at archetypal informationA very strange Euphrates, indeed

PART THREE: MYSTICISM AND THE NEW PHYSICS

Chapter Six: Tantra and Quantum TheorySuperspace versus the akasaNada and binduLines of the magnetic field and the hairs of SivaLines of force trapped in the topology of spaceMiniblackholes predicted in the ancient textsPuckers in the fabric of space-timeQuantum interconnectedness and omnijectivityThe world as consciousness

Chapter Seven: The Interpenetrating UniversesThe miracle of FatimaMass hallucinations and folie à deuxFlying saucers and globes of lightThe “out there”Primitive people unable to see photographsThe environment as we perceive it is our inventionDo cognitive processes compute wristwatches?What is “out there”?A dying demonSustaining the visionNo world available to direct touchThe nagual and the tonal of don JuanAreas of constructive interferenceThe yoga of the dream state“Man’s mind mirrors a universe which mirrors man’s mind”The world is a dreamPeeking into infinityChapter Eight: The Reality-StructurerOn the slopes of the HimalayasYoga of the psychic heatTulpas and projections of the mindThe dance of chödVisualizing mental formationsMetaprogramming the biocomputerBeyond godOur word-build worldThe energy centers of the human nervous systemThe serpent powerA “biological basis for religion”The gradation of planes of consciousness

Chapter Nine: The New CosmologyThe cosmic game of hide-and-seekBlack Elk speaksThe ultimate realityAstral cities and journeys out of the bodyLocale IIStructural entities and functional entitiesTransactions with realityDeceased spirits or split personalities?The act of participationChoosing cosmic eggsAlmighty powers shut in nature’s cellsThe game of TlönIn search of the fantasticReality enclavesThe evolution of the human mindMatter-space-time as a cosmic brainThe “childlike laughter of the infinite”

An Afternote on LanguageZen proverbsImparting no informationDiscrimination is meaningGames Zen Masters playThinking with wordsThinking without words“Body-knowing”The holographic components of thoughtBeyond all words and symbolsBuddhahood

Afterword to the 1992 Edition Mysticism and the New Physics RevisitedHow this book came to be writtenWhat has changed todayThe most important experiment of the centuryGarage mechanics at the edge of a precipicePassion at a distanceNonlocal fish and the universe as a seamless wholeUsing quantum interconnectedness as an intergalatic telegraph systemOther important developments – a chapter by chapter update